Political, personal and sometimes experimental writing from a lawyer, parent, muso and cat wrangler. Critical security; regulation in the era of disruption; public ethics; child rights; anacruses to arpeggios; and, regardless of the subject, beautiful writing wherever it appears.
Also at https://twitter.com/armagny - I follow back unless you are a bot or a spruiker.

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

I was dispensing with advice on a post elsewhere and hit the following question which I wanted to put to you all*:

The saying is if you love somebody set them free, if they come back they are yours.

Do you agree, is there value in the broken hearted waiting by the window for he or she to see the error of their ways and return, or should it actually be if you love somebody set them free, if they choose not to leave they are yours?In my humble view it is the latter...

Friday, February 24, 2006

Where are those right wing foghorns when the fan's on full bore spraying faeces all over their disingenuous justifications for war? Been a while since we had images of GI Joe with garlands of flowers rubbed into our noses, hasn't it?

It’s quite possible, in fact, that Sadr will emerge as the most powerful figure in Iraq’s new government. You remember Sadr–the guy the United States accused of murdering a moderate Shia cleric just days into the war. The guy who recently visited Iran and Syria to express solidarity with their anti-American dictators. The guy whose militia (which we tried–and failed–to disarm several years ago) periodically attacks British troops in the Iraqi south. Yes, that Sadr. Well, he’s now Iraq’s Dick Cheney.

All he needs is a few Sunni lawyers to shoot.

Just wait for the batwings to cut-and-run when the going gets really ugly...

...because they don't, unless they are in very senior positions, earn more than $60,000.

This according to the Fella Filter, invented by a stupendously cool KPMG demographer called Bernard. Other men deemed unfit for eligibility include those over 34 (which is about where most men I know start really thinking about settling down) and those with kids.

What bugs me about this isn't that some accountant's lackey would come up with a test that manages, incredibly, to paint tightwads with no social skills as the country's repository of eligible hunks, but that the media reproduces this crap as if it's rational hard fact.

Is no-one in our half-baked press switched-on enough to reach the most logical conclusion here - that so many accountants are single for a reason, and it's not a compliment to accountants?

And yes I am slightly offended on behalf of all those males who choose to do more than jam wads of cash together for a living.

Monday, February 13, 2006

Perusing Bartlett's highly useful breakdown of the Senate vote on RU486, noting the 'comrades' who voted against, and I see that 2 of the 3 women who voted against moving RU486 from Abbott to the doctors are Labor.

I continue to grudgingly support conscience votes on issues like this, as well as the continued place within Labor of those who are fervently religious but otherwise tolerant and demonstrably left wing.

The wonderful Flute is coming to town, and we are doing the customary thing with him. As usual, it will be at Spleen, the bar joint at the top of Bourke St, on the southern side, just down from Parliament House. The date is next Friday, the 17th. The time is 6.00 onwards. We will repair next door for grub, cos it is reasonably cheap.

If the presence of such big-hitting blogonalities is intimidating, rest assured that pissants like myself will also be flitting around, drinking up dry white and wit and making the hot goss.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Our world has adapted to little Minh like currents redirect their flows and eddies around a boulder that lands in a stream. The world stops, and starts, for her; she is a princess.

No doubt it's only a matter of time before she insists on taking over when I'm on blogger.

Chairman Mao still has some hierarchy issues, is still coming to terms with the fact that his days as head cat are numbered, there's a female in the household. I try giving him guidance, assuring him that we all go through it, learn to adjust to our new place.

He talks less, needs less. But seems calmer than before, content, a warmer uncomplicated affection. Yesterday I came home late and I saw him through the window next to the door, sprinting across the room at the sound of my footsteps.

It's these unforced moments we cat owners live for.

I've started calling him Herbert, the name of my old cat in Darwin, by mistake. I'm not sure at all what this means. Herbert also had a smaller, upstart companion, perhaps that's it.

Minh; min-min kit-kit; sweetheart; is hilarious, slightly mad. She runs so fast it is hard to track her across the room with your eyes. He chases her around, inspired to new levels of athleticism himself- last night he leapt about 2 metres through the air from couch to couch.

Minh has rueful eyes that she uses to melt a simian at 5 yards.

I worry, though it's mostly play, that she experiences too much being chased and rough play at this age, Mao is now a pretty big, strong cat. I intervene sometimes, I worry about the times I'm not there.

She's certainly going to be tougher than him in a few months, she's already learned some pretty impressive techniques. The other day he was trying to bite her midsection, had got hold of a pinch of skin, and she did multiple double-hindkicks of death into his face.

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Coke appear to be abusing comment threads to promote their new 'hip' drink Zero. Either that or they've inspired a bizarre cult among marketing students. The latter theory does seem less than credible.

So even though I'm single again now, the Zero Games day was definitely a good idea. If I hadn't decided to try it, I might have never have found out that Bree was such a slut. And now I'm free to make a move on the new hottie in my section at work!

Now we DEFINITELY know he's a marketing student!

"Dudes, someone's, like, onto our scam":

some of you don't seem to share our enthusiasm for the zero movement. I guess when something as fresh and innovative as the zero movement comes along, there's always going to be some people who are a little bit wary of it. You're entitled to your opinion guys, but try and keep the comments constructive huh? We believe in zero censorship here, but also zero hatred. Anyway, enough of the negative stuff.

No mate, it'll be enough when you go back to teleselling fucking kitchen appliances, loser.

UPDATE MCCVII : The Pepsi conspiracy theory starts to gain traction, see Electron Soup. Suppose if you'll get into bed with Pinochet there isn't a lot you wouldn't do. But at this stage, not where I'd put the bulk of my money, maybe just a hedge...

UPDATE O-O : Ah, apparently it's all satire. I like satire, but if that's true then they kinda missed the mark. I'm not at all convinced, perhaps we'll never know the truth...

Monday, February 06, 2006

While the cartoon furore has left some on the left grasping at postmodern apologia I'm with Mr Lefty and Tim Dunlop : disturbed and angered by the mindless violence and thuggery being splayed across the Islamic world and diaspora.

Do these people even realise that the reason such stereotypical views of them have such resonance IS THAT THEY KEEP DOING THIS STUFF?

Or, well we may ask, do they really care?

He flags the link, which the left cannot ignore, between this issue and the fight against religious bigots like Tony Abbott:

Religious fundamentalism being forced on other people is a thoroughly unpleasant thing no matter who's doing it. We don't want to live in a theocracy of any persuasion.

Tim Dunlop points out that the Pope, while distancing himself from their violent methods, agrees with the fundamentalists' attack on basic democratic values. So a big Golden But in favour of the nutters from the Pontiff.

Given that violence and threats were used to terrorise galleries that displayed Piss Christ, this isn't entirely surprising. Anyone who defended that violence but then attacks the violent protests by Muslims here is a flagrant hypocrite.

Dunlop also reminds us of the hand-wringing approach taken to the outrageous Fatwa against Salman Rushdie:

If western leaders--political, religious and intellectual--had been more willing to defend Salman Rushdie back when The Satanic Verses author became the subject of a fatwa, maybe the recourse to violence by some Muslims when they felt affronted could have been nipped in the bud. Not only did that not happen then, but now with the Danish cartoon thing, we are seeing the same apologetics for violence being trotted out again, just as they were for Rushdie: what did he expect to happen? It's a bad book/cartoon anyway; people are right to be offended; it is always wrong to be mean about things people hold sacred; free speech is not an absolute; I don't approve of the violence, but...

This issue may well prove a high water mark for leftwing tolerance and willingness to excuse the inexcusable.

This screamingly psychotic behaviour is an affront to the civil society project, it is an affront to true-liberalism, and it is an affront to the value of progressing beyond the dark ages at all.

It may also prove a watershed moment for moderate Islam, as the absurdity of the violence provokes those who, while probably being offended by the cartoons themselves, do not want to be dragged into the dark ages and do not want a 'Clash of Civilisations' either.

There have been strong and unequivocal counter-protests by moderates, certainly in the UK, calling for police to arrest those who carried 'death inciting' placards and angrily renouncing the extremists.

They need our support, as we need them to be strong, now more than ever.

Thursday, February 02, 2006

I would much rather see the world burned to nuclear ash before letting the religion of pigfuckers have control of it.

These people are behind the hawkish Right, don't forget it, don't assume there are limits on where they would take us....

UPDATE: I'm not implying Mr Jericho or many other people on the right would go that far. Many are driven by a security analysis that is far more apocalyptic than mine, and by a level of intolerance I find distasteful, but not by abject hatred or psychosis. But I've observed Tiberius in action for a while and I'm not wearing any crap about right wing humour; unfortunately there are some within their ranks who really do think this way, and it's important to be aware of them, in the way it's important to be aware that a river contains crocodiles before you start swimming...